The crossroads of pain
There was much speculation about potential determinants which will increase the likelihood of progression of acute pain to chronic pain. Possible aspects include genetics, demographics, past trauma, past health history, the character of the injury or surgery (as an illustration, mastectomies carry risk of development of nerve pain), and others.
Still, there isn’t any solid evidence to indicate this causation… yet. All that we all know is that there’s a pain crisis that may now not be ignored.
National health agencies are taking an interest. As an illustration, the National Institute on Aging is taking a look at advancing pain science. The National Institute of Health’s HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, is a multi-year, multi-agency effort funding major investments into the science of pain.
One in all the National Institutes of Health (NIH) programs is concentrated on investigating the biological characteristics underlying the transition from acute to chronic pain. The Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) is currently undertaking two longitudinal studies with patients who experience acute pain resulting from a surgical operation. The goal: “develop a set of objective biomarkers that provide ‘signatures’ to predict if chronic pain is more likely to develop or be resolved after acute pain, like an injury or after a surgery.”
The Early Phase Pain Investigation Clinical Network (EPPIC-Net) is one other NIH HEALInitiative taking a look at accelerating early-phase clinical trials of non-addictive treatments for acute and chronic pain. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in addition to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are also engaging within the topics of acute and chronic pain. Earlier this 12 months, the FDA released draft guidance on the event of non-opioid analgesics for acute pain, and CMS recently announced their intention to enhance chronic pain care by paying physicians individually to look after Americans who’re over 65 or disabled.
These initiatives are a promising step as we proceed to navigate the murky landscape of effectively treating each acute and chronic pain, and reducing the likelihood that acute pain will transition to chronic.
Treatment options
As humans, our first inclination when experiencing pain is the best way to make it stop. We query the very best approach to manage acute versus chronic pain: is it rest? When is it higher to make use of heat versus cold? Are OTC’s appropriate or other prescription medications? When will the pain subside?
While there may be commonality between pain management options for acute and chronic pain, there are also differences. Typically, treating acute pain focuses on the underlying cause and dealing toward interrupting the nociceptive, or sensory pain receptor, signals. Chronic pain, is best treated with a multidisciplinary approach that involves a couple of therapeutic modality.
A very powerful thing is ensuring your pain is being addressed and managed appropriately, while finding resources and support to assist.
Looking forward this November
As we take a look at the intersection between acute and chronic pain, we hope to:
- Increase awareness of chronic pain as a disease.
- Spur greater research into the causes of chronic pain.
- Provide education about different treatment options for acute and chronic pain.
- Address the necessity for collecting population health data about different pain conditions, patient characteristics, like gender, ethnicity, and geographic location, treatment modalities and their effectiveness for several types of pain, costs and more.
- Highlight the lived experiences of people who live with acute and chronic pain
It’s time to actually get to know pain.
